Adaptive field and frame identification

Abstract

Adaptively indicating field and frame encoding of coded pictures, such as but not necessarily limited to those transmitted in accordance with High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) (ISO/IEC 23008-2)/ITU-T Recommendation H.265, is contemplated. The field and frame encoding indications may be provided at various levels of granularity, such as on a per picture basis, a per slice basis and/or a per slice segment basis.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for adaptively indicating field and frame encoding of coded pictures, each coded picture including one or more slices, one or more slice segments and one or more slice segment headers, the method comprising:
 encoding an adaptive field frame (aff) syntax within at least a plurality of picture parameter sets (PPSs), the aff syntax indicating one of picture adaptive, slice adaptive and slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding for one or more coded pictures referred thereto; and 
 encoding the aff syntax as a two-bit syntax sufficient to uniquely indicate the picture adaptive, slice adaptive and slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1  further comprising encoding a field syntax within each PPS having the aff syntax indicating picture adaptive field and frame encoding, the field syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of field and frame. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2  further comprising encoding a top field first (tff) syntax within each PPS having the field syntax indicating picture adaptive field encoding, the tff syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of top field first and bottom field first. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3  further comprising encoding the field syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate frame encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate field encoding and encoding the tff syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate bottom field first encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate top field first encoding. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 3  further comprising encoding each PPS having the aff syntax indicating picture adaptive frame encoding without the tff syntax. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 3  further comprising encoding each slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the aff syntax indicating picture adaptive field and frame encoding without the field and tff syntaxes. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 encoding each slice segment to be one of independent and dependent; and 
 encoding a field syntax within each independent slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the aff syntax indicating slice adaptive field and frame encoding, the field syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of field and frame. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7  further comprising encoding a top field first (tff) syntax within each independent slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the field syntax indicating slice adaptive field encoding, the tff syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of top field first and bottom field first. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8  further comprising encoding the field syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate frame encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate field encoding and encoding the tff syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate bottom field first encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate top field first encoding. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 8  further comprising encoding each PPS having the aff syntax indicating slice adaptive frame encoding without the field and tff syntaxes. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 8  further comprising encoding each dependent slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the aff syntax indicating slice adaptive field and frame encoding without the field and tff syntaxes. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 encoding a field syntax within each slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the aff syntax indicating slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding, the field syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of field and frame. 
 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12  further comprising encoding a top field first (tff) syntax within each slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the field syntax indicating slice segment adaptive field encoding, the tff syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of top field first and bottom field first. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 13  further comprising encoding the field syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate frame encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate field encoding and encoding the tff syntax with a bit value of 0 to indicate bottom field first encoding and with a bit value of 1 to indicate top field first encoding. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 12  further comprising encoding each PPS having the aff syntax indicating slice segment adaptive frame encoding without the field and tff syntaxes. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1  further comprising encoding the two-bit syntax as 01 to indicate picture adaptive field and frame encoding, as 10 to indicate slice adaptive field and frame encoding and as 11 to indicate slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding. 
     
     
       17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions, operable with a processor, to facilitate decoding coded pictures transmitted within a bitstream, each coded picture including one or more slices, one or more slice segments and one or more slice segment headers, the computer-readable medium comprising instructions sufficient for:
 processing an adaptive field frame (aff) syntax included within picture parameter sets (PPSs) transmitted within the bitstream; and 
 determining slice segments referring to the PPSs as frames or as fields according to: 
 i) a field syntax included within the PPS if the aff syntax of the referred to PPS indicates picture adaptive encoding; 
 ii) a field syntax included within a slice segment header of an associated independent slice segment if the aff syntax of the referred to PPS indicates slice adaptive encoding; and 
 iii) a field syntax included within a slice segment header of an associated dependent slice segment if the aff syntax of the referred to PPS indicates slice segment adaptive encoding. 
 
     
     
       18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of non-transitory instructions, which when executed with a processor of an encoder, are sufficient for adaptively indicating field and frame encoding of coded pictures having one or more slices, one or more slice segments and/or one or more slice segment headers, the non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:
 encoding an adaptive field frame (aff) syntax within at least a plurality of picture parameter sets (PPSs) associated with the coded pictures, the aff syntax indicating one of picture adaptive, slice adaptive and slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding for one or more coded pictures referred thereto; and 
 encoding the aff syntax as a two-bit syntax sufficient to uniquely indicate the picture adaptive, slice adaptive and slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding. 
 
     
     
       19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 18  further comprising the plurality of non-transitory instructions being sufficient for:
 encoding a field syntax within each slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the aff syntax indicating slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding, the field syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of field and frame; 
 encoding a top field first (tff) syntax within each slice segment header referring to one of the PPSs having the field syntax indicating slice segment adaptive field encoding, the tff syntax indicating each slice segment referred thereto as being encoded as one of top field first and bottom field first; and 
 encoding each PPS having the aff syntax indicating slice segment adaptive frame encoding without the field and tff syntaxes. 
 
     
     
       20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 19  further comprising the plurality of non-transitory instructions being sufficient for encoding the two-bit syntax as 01 to indicate picture adaptive field and frame encoding, as 10 to indicate slice adaptive field and frame encoding and as 11 to indicate slice segment adaptive field and frame encoding.